Anthony ward



(No Model.)

A. WARD. CAN OPENER.

No. 470,087. Patented Mar. 1, 1892.

WITNESSES INVENTQH I I ATTORNEYS m5 norms warns 00., morcmmm, msnmawu. n. c,

NITED STATES ATENT QFFICE.

ANTHONY lVARD, OF NE\V YORK, N. Y., ASSIGN OR TO THE NElV YORK CON DENSED MILK COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

CAN-OPEN ER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 470,087, dated March 1, 1892.

Application filed November 25, 1891. 7 Serial No. 413,034. (No model.)

walls ofthe kerf produced thereby will bequite smooth, and whereby when the knife is introduced into the head of the can it will not have a tendency to leave the head during the process of cutting the same.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of the several -parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth,

and pointed out in the claim.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures and letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is aperspective view of a can-opener, illustratingits application to a can. Fig. 2 is a transverse section taken practically on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical section through the knife, taken practically on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1; and Fig. is a horizontal section through the pivot point of the opener, the said section being taken, essentially, onthe line 4: 4 of Fig. 1.

The body of the opener consists of a handle 10, a shank 11, integral with the handle, and a pivot-pin 12, located at the end of the shank, the whole being formed from a single stout wire, which is bentupon itself at one end to form the handle 10 and bent down at a right angle at its other end to form the pivot. The wire at its handle extremity is brought close to the shank portion. The pivot-pin 12 isof conical shape, and upon its outer face, near its junction with the shank 11, the said pin is provided with a recess 13, as is best shown in Fig. 1. The cutter 14 extends vertically downward from the body between the extremity of the handle and the pivot-pin 12, the cutter and the pivot-pin being practically in horizontal alignment. The cutter consists of a blade soldered or otherwise attached to the body-section, the lower end of the said blade being beveled upon opposite sides, as illustrated at a in Fig. 2. This blade above its cutting-edge is provided with an aperture of about the diameter of the wire used in the formation of the body of the opener, and the cutter is slipped upon the handle portion just where its extremity joins the shank 11, and the solder used in securing the blade also secures said extremity to the shank. Thus the lower edge of the blade is pointed and both sides are provided with cutting-edges. The side beveled cuttingedges, however, do not extend upward as far as the body, though if in practice it is found desirable the outer cutting edge maybe made to do so. WVhat I term by preference the inner cutting-edge of the blade has a semicircularrecessct formed therein,the said recess being located immediately beneath the body, and the extremity of the lower wall of the recess joins the beveled cutting-edge upon that side. The wall of the recess a is sharpened, as is shown in Fig.

so that the recessed portion of the knife constitutes a cutting-surface also.

The can-opener is used in the following manner: The pivot-pin 12 is forced through the center of the top A of the can A to be opened, as is shown in Fig. 1, whereupon the wall of the opening thus made will enter the recess 13 in the pin, and when lateral outward pressure is exerted upon the pin by rea son of the can-top entering the recess 13 the pin will not leave the can. As soon as the pin has been forced into the can-top by exerting downward pressure upon the handle 10 9:: the knife is likewise forced through the top into the can and the knife is forced downward, the beveled edges or permitting this to be done, until the wall of the opening thus made enters the recessed portion a of the knife, whereupon the handle is carried around in a circle, of which the opening in the can in which the pin turns is the center, and the knife will produce in the can-top a clean circnlar cut 15, also shown in Fig. 1. The knife :00

cannot possibly leave the can-top during the process of cutting, owing to the advance Wall of the cut 15 constantly engaging with the wall of the recess a of the knife.

In locating the knife upon the body of the device the distance between the pivot-pin and the knife is made to nearly correspond to the distance represented by half the diameter of the can-top to be out.

A can-opener of the type above described is especially adapted for quickly and conveniently opening cans containing condensed milk or cans of a similar nature; but I desire it to be understood that in practice the opener may be made sufficiently strong and of a proper size to open cans the heads of which are made of stouter material than the heads of condensed-milk cans.

In attaching the knife to the body of the device the width of the knife is transversely of the body, so that the pivot-pin is opposite the inner side face of the knife.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent As an improved article of manufacture, a

ANTHONY WARD. Vitnesses:

J. F. ACKER, E. M. CLARK. 

